I just wanted to keep Jacob safe so badly.

Dinner was made and I’d stuffed it in the refrigerator for when Charlie came home. I walked Jacob to the door.

He turned around. Linking one arm around my waist, he pulled me forward.
“Believe me this time.” He pleaded. I nodded, trying to make a smile form on my tightly pressed lips.

Before I could reassure him, Jacob tilted his head. When he pulled away his breath was suddenly wavering.
“I can’t stay tonight but…if you want tomorrow…”
I knew exactly what he was insinuating and my heart thumped. After all this worrying and fear I didn’t know if that was what I needed. What would be good for me.

For me.

“Gosh, how selfish was I?” It wouldn’t be good for Jacob at all if I took advantage of him! Of course not! Immediately, I felt sick for even remembering that night.
“Um…not so soon, okay?” I replied.

Jacob’s eyes lost their fire. He breathed in deeply, exhaling in a sigh. Then he kissed my forehead.
“Whatever you want, honey.”

Night was falling in the same unsettled manner as it seemed to always descend for the past weeks. The house seemed surrounded from all sides by some unidentifiable, menacing force. A hurricane or an evil supernatural presence.

But now I was alone. Now was the perfect time for whatever creature to come for me. I expected its arrival as I climbed up the stairs, taking each step carefully in a slower than slow pace. The sound of the water cascading from the showerhead spooked me.

My hair dripped and tangled on my shoulder. My bare feet were cold and slid down the wooden floorboards on the way to my room. Once I huddled through the door I rushed to the drawer, anxious to find warm clothes to cover up the shivered skin.

On my bed a piece of paper lay wrinkled. It might had been unnoticed in my haste to get dressed. Had my head not lifted as I pulled on my favorite sweat pants, I wouldn’t have seen it. And even if I had, I was almost certain that all the worries in my head wouldn’t have let me pay attention to it. Maybe I would have even thrown it away, thinking it was just a meaningless scrap of paper torn from one of my notebooks. Yet, that wasn’t what it was, was it?